Moore Public Schools graciously produced the following video which explains the inherent inequities between the Value Added Model and Student Learning Objective teacher evaluations frameworks. Moore also presented this information to the Oklahoma TLE Commission: Since I teach two sections of 7th grade literature, I part of my evaluation will be based on VAM, […]
This Is What Ticks Me Off About “Education Reform”
Pardon my French. It isn’t that corporations are destroying public education so they can have the profits for themselves. It isn’t that we’re re-segregating our schools in the name of “choice.” It isn’t that my value as a teacher will be determined by the whims of a group of adolescents. What chaps my hide is: [tweet_dis]We’re turning an altruistic […]
What Will VAM Do To Oklahoma Educators?
While Oklahoma educators have been fighting CCSS, political battles, and high stakes testing, another component of this mess is sneaking up on us. It’s Value-Added Measures, which will make up 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation after this coming school year. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Education, VAM is: A measure of a teacher’s contribution […]
What VAM Means To Excellent Teachers In High-Poverty Schools
I have just finished my third year of teaching, and am still awaiting final results from my students’ high-stakes Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests. These are the tests that will determine the Value-Added Measure score on my future teacher evaluations. Michelle WatersI am a secondary English Language Arts teacher, a University of Oklahoma student working on my Master’s […]
What Does VAM Mean For Oklahoma Teachers
A Facebook friend recently tagged me in a post, asking a very interesting question about the value added model component of teacher evaluations. Her question: …will you be punished if students perform poorly? If not I see not one bad thing about this; we’re investing in or future is how I look at it. Michelle WatersI am […]